September 26, 2025
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It wasn't very loud. Just three little words, softly spoken. But they were loud enough to drown out a gunshot that had reverberated across the nation.
The widow of assassinated influencer, Charlie Kirk, talked about the young man who ended the life of her husband and the father of her children. Through tears, she spoke words that stunned a nation. It was a holy, deeply human moment. Politics didn't matter. Personalities didn't matter.
Three words that, if they became part of our vocabulary, could help heal a broken nation.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "I Forgive You."
Those were the three words. But how does a woman, so deeply wounded, forgive the one who inflicted it, only days after that deadly shot?
"I forgive him," she said, "because it was what Christ did."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Colossians 3:13. How right she was. It simply says there, "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Erika Kirk's humanly unexplainable grace was an echo from a cross 2,000 years ago. Amidst the agony of His crucifixion, Jesus spoke these unforgettable words about the men who had nailed Him there.
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
He's been forgiving sinners like me ever since. In the only way that was possible. The death penalty for the running of my life - sin, the Bible calls it - had to be paid. Or being forgiven by a sinless God would have been impossible.
In the Bible's words: "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:27). We can forgive because we have been forgiven by a sinless God.
The meanness, the violence, the hate that headlines our daily news - and lives - has produced an epidemic of heart trouble. Hard hearts. Shots are fired for grievances big and small. Not always with a gun. Often with our tongue. Or a social media post. People have become categories who we judge by whatever label they bear in our minds.
So brokenness isn't just a season we're in. It's a spiraling cycle. Martin Luther King described the futility of living like this. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."
A beacon of light really shows up on a very dark night. And there is such a beacon. Young people are looking for hope. Not by turning inward. Not by turning outward to others. But by looking up. Churches have been unusually full since this tragedy. Social media is full of stories of people suddenly seeking God, finding Jesus. On campuses. Online.
And there is hope in that. What's broken between us is because of what's broken between us and God. The Bible says, "Your sins have separated you from God." And the essence of sin is that middle letter - "I." We have occupied the throne of our life that was made for God alone.
So that makes it a world that's all about me. And millions of people living in that self-deification crush others. And hurt people hurt people.
A shattered wife who told thousands of people "I forgive him" can be a harbinger of hope. But in reality, she is not the answer. For she attributed her forgiving to His forgiving.
There is hope for a broken marriage. For a broken family. For a broken world. Or a broken heart. The Bible calls Him "a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).
And He is hope for you, my friend. If you've never gone to His cross to have your sin forgiven, never opened your heart to Him, let this be the day your heart, your life, and your eternity is changed. We'd love to help you do that. Go to our website today. It's ANewStory.com.
Hope has a name. His name is Jesus. That hope begins at His Cross where He looks your way and says, "I forgive her. I forgive him."